      State Senator and former Bellevue City Council member Carol Blood is the first Democrat to announce a bid for governor to succeed term-limited Republican Pete Ricketts.
       Blood was serving her second term on the Bellevue City Council in 2016 when she beat a Republican incumbent for a seat in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature from a politically divided Sarpy County district. She won reelection in 2020.Â
      If she wins the Democratic nomination next year, Blood will be an extreme underdog to whomever wins the Republican nod.Â
The last Democrat to win a statewide election was U-S Senator and former governor Ben Nelson in 2006 – and Donald Trump won the state last year by 18 percentage points.
There are already 4 Republican contenders in the race with more possible, including former governor Dave Heineman.